Fashion Design 101 | the basics of sewing

Hey guys, it's Natalia and welcome to the first episode of Fashion Design 101. So I've been kind of teasing this to you guys for a few months now because I've really wanted to do this series for a While so I've spent the past like week or so like hardcore planning out this series planning out everything I want to say asking you guys what you want to see very specifically like every little detail So hopefully i've got a lot of really good videos ready for you guys So today's video is honestly just like the basics the very very beginning of sewing i'm gonna go through like different machines that you could Have i'm gonna go through like tools you might need Parts of the machine how to thread the machine how to use the machine and just like basic stitches and little tips for helping You sew better. So today is very very very beginner level Like if you've never sewn before hopefully this helps you out And then the next few videos we'll start getting more advanced and more advanced and we'll do like different techniques closures Fabrics all that type of stuff we will get into but today I just want to start with the very basics for all of you who are super super beginners. So let's get into it So first things first, let's talk about machines There's obviously so many different machines on the market and a lot of different price ranges as well And obviously whatever you get kind of just depends on how seriously you're taking your sewing what level you're at What your price range is all that type of stuff? I used to have a singer simple which is probably one of the more basic Sewing machines like you couldn't really do like a whole lot with it But you could do enough to you know Get yourself by like I made all my progresses on that machine in high school Like that's the machine I had in high school I got the one that I can use right now like the second semester of my senior year as a graduation gift So I literally did all of my high school work on that one very simple machine So basically what i'm saying is that you can do a lot with the little simple ones But at the same time if you are trying to get more advanced then looking into the more intermediate ones would be really good The one that I have that is kind of the intermediate level It's definitely a little bit more pricey But it's definitely not an industrial is the jenome magnolia 7 3 3 0 you guys have heard me talk about this so much I love this machine so so much It's a machine that we had at my high school that I got to use I think my senior year Which is why I ended up buying it. I really love it. It has everything you will ever need It is so easy to use it is so friendly to the user and I really really love that I could not recommend it enough to you guys If you're looking for kind of a more intermediate more advanced kind of sewing machine I'd definitely definitely get that one And then of course the next level up would be the industrial ones which is what I used in college because that's what we had at fit slash at palomoda, I love the industrial ones and I do hope to get one someday because I just know that they are a lot easier to work with in a sense of like they're faster They're a lot more heavy duty and they're just obviously going to be better because they're made for the industry They're made to produce a lot. So hopefully I will upgrade to one of those later But it's not something that I find necessary in a sense, but it would just be cool to have that But obviously they are in the thousands range and um, that's a little expensive. So Not necessary, but those are kind of the ranges of sewing machines at the end of the day You can do a lot with whatever is given to you It's kind of more of the user rather than the machine at the end of the day Like if you know how to work with what you have then you're gonna be fine So don't feel like you have to spend a lot of money on a machine You can definitely start simple and then work your way up if you feel necessary So next up let's talk about the tools that you'll need obviously when it comes to sewing There's a lot of little things that you need just to help you get there So it is kind of an expensive hobby in a sense for that But at the end of the day all these tools will last you a very very long time So it's a very good investment anyway, so let's get into it. First things first. You obviously need needles That is how sewing works. Even if it's hand needles or machine needles. Let's talk about them So hand sewing needles are super inexpensive and you can buy like really big packs like this one that comes with a bunch of different Like size ranges. I have a really weird variety of a bunch of needles Obviously the bigger ones are used for like heavy duty fabrics and like for embroidery and stuff like that The smaller ones are more usable for anything else kind of deal Um, you can kind of feel it out and you can like sense which ones feel better on different fabrics So there's not much to it there But obviously if it's a lighter fabric use a smaller needle if it's like something more heavy duty Then you'll need something a little bit more sturdy so that it doesn't like bend or break while you're sewing And then let's also talk about machine needles because I don't think they get talked about enough Obviously your machine will come with a needle. It's going to be a all-purpose needle like very basic But at the same time there's certain fabrics that you're going to need to switch out that needle for so there's only two different types Of fabrics that I really tend to actually change the needle with and one of them being knit fabrics I cannot tell you guys how important it is to have a stretch needle when you're sewing knit fabrics because it just will not sew The same the fabrics themselves are made differently wovens versus knit are completely different in the sense that they're made so the way that the needle has to go into the spacing of the threads in the fabric is different and I will never be able to fully explain it But just know that it works and that you need to have stretch needles for it Yeah definitely get yourself a pack of these because It's the best thing ever the other type of needle that I use very often is a denim needle because these are a lot more Heavy duty anytime that i'm sewing something that's like really thick or a lot of layers I definitely choose to use a more like heavy duty needle because you'll find that sometimes your needles will break And that's a very dangerous thing I know everybody talks about horror stories of like what if it gets in your eye when it breaks because obviously when like the needle breaks on the machine like it goes down and It just like flings out so you could definitely get injured I have yet to ever get injured and i've definitely broken a lot of needles, but this will help prevent uh any needle breaking So if you're using denim or if you're using something that's really heavy or something that has a lot of layers Definitely use a more heavy duty needle and a little pro tip always have needles on hand because you never know when they're gonna break They do break randomly sometimes even when you're using a lighter fabric. It's happened to me before can't explain it But it just happens so it's always good to have extra needles on hand just in case because you never know Next let's talk about the seam ripper. This is gonna be your best friend, especially when you're a beginner Obviously you're gonna make mistakes when you're sewing sometimes either like the fabric gets caught under or you made a seam and it's actually Like too tight or too loose or whatever it is and you have to undo the seam This little thing is what is gonna do it for you. It is literally incredible It is a magical tool that everybody hates but loves at the same time because obviously it helps you out But it's really awful to seam rip and everybody hates it But again a necessary tool especially for a beginner because you're bound to make mistakes Even I still make mistakes you guys know that you guys have seen that so Definitely get yourself a seam ripper and always have it on hand because it will be necessary Next let's talk about all the scissors and shears you're gonna need So first things first, there is a difference between paper scissors and fabric scissors and you cannot use them interchangeably So these are my heavy duty fabric scissors. These are expensive These are very heavy and these are literally incredible and I love them so much. These are my paper scissors They are basic scissors and you cannot use them interchangeably. Okay, let me just say that one more time You cannot use these interchangeably the way it works. Obviously scissors are like knives. They need to be sharpened They need to kind of like have that sharpness to them And obviously if you're using different fibers like paper is a different fiber than obviously fabric if you're using different fibers It doles them out differently So you want to make sure you always use these just for fabrics and you only use these just for paper and you don't ever Interchange them. Let me just say that one more time do not interchange them Make sure you have separate scissors for each because it's really really important and on a side little note I think it's always important to have like little scissors or little like thread snips or something on hand because it just makes it easier To cut off threads or cut up anything That's like a lot more small because these are really obnoxious to be cutting threads with so always having a little pair on hand Is also really good. So next let's talk about your marking tools. I personally like to use chalk I know that there are like invisible markers and all that type of stuff that you can use but personally I think chalk is the best thing ever because it just like wipes away really easily But you can see it really well and they come in different colors I have the white and there's also blue ones that are really popular Especially if you're using like a white fabric or something you're going to want to do that They wash out really easily and everything so that's not really a problem but it's really important to have this especially if you're like fitting something onto yourself and you want to mark like where you have To take it in or whatever chalk is going to be your best friend in that obviously you can use pins and stuff too but it's just really really helpful to use chalk to Mark your fabric and to make any marks that you need whether it be like to take something in take something out add a dart Add a seam whatever it is chalk is gonna be your best friend So next let's talk about our measuring tools. You guys have seen me use these rulers all the time I use this one honestly the most because this one has centimeters and inches It's the one that we used in italy because some of my professors did inches some of them did things in centimeters So you never knew and always had to have them both on hand. So I love these I think they're super super great and they're see-through So it's really easy to like mark things and mark seams and kind of see like where you're marking things And also obviously it's important to have an actual like measuring tape to be able to like measure Your body because you cannot measure your body with a ruler and you can't be like, oh like what's my waist measurement? Like that's just not gonna work. So you do need definitely a measuring tape Especially just to measure the body measure kind of more circular things So definitely have one of these on hand. All these things are really cheap I will try to link everything that I can find down below for you guys So you guys can just like shop them directly if you want to So I will leave that down below for you guys all the tools and all the things that I like to use So that's that and last but not least let's talk about pins Obviously you're gonna need a lot of pins to pin your fabrics and to kind of pin things together See how things are gonna look pins are really really important when you're a beginner A lot of people like to get the ones that have like a little bead at the top of them that have like little colors And stuff once you get to fashion school and get into the industry if you use those you will get ridiculed So I do not recommend using those. Honestly, I love to use these little basic ones They're the ones that we used in school. I really like them Honestly, it makes things a lot less bulky and they're just a lot better I think they're called like tailor pins or something But again, I will have things linked down below for you guys So you guys can just shop directly all the things that i'm talking about All right, so that's it for all the basics. Let's get to the machine So, like I said, I have a jenome magnolia 7 3 3 0 so let's just get into it Some parts of the machine that you need to be familiar with are the hand wheel Which is this little wheel on the side, which you can see moves the needle up and down over here manually You've got the threading up here This is where your spool of thread will go and this is where your bobbin threads which we'll get to in a minute Over here. You have your tension. Don't really mess with it I never touch it unless I actually need to for certain fabrics But honestly, you'll find that majority of the fabrics work on most of the same tension So I don't really touch that too much But again, it is something that you do want to know is there my specific machine has a speed control Which not all of them have and it's not really necessary But it helps you to only go a certain speed if need be I always have it kind of to the middle high over here I have all the stitches that my machine can do some machines have it on a little wheel This one just has it here because it is a digital one So I can just put in the numbers up here But this tells you what everything is this little lever back here is for the presser foot This is really important to know some of the machines have them like more back here Some of them are on the side. So just make sure you know where yours is Mine is back here. This little button over here is my back stitch button Some machines have a little lever that you press others have a button So just make sure you're familiar with your machine and what it has but this is for back stitching Which we'll get to in a minute as well. Let's move on to threading for the sake of the video I'm going to do it with black thread so you guys can see it more clearly But usually you want to use a color that matches the fabric that you have But in this case i'm just going to use black so you guys can see what i'm doing Normally for a home sewing machine you would use this type of thread that goes perfectly up here like this But if you're like me and you have a business and you're sewing all the time Sometimes you just need more thread because you will go through the little ones like no other so for that I have this little thread stand which I got off of amazon. I can link it down below for you guys Basically, I can just put my thread up here Thread it through the upper looper up here and then thread normally on the machine And I like to keep it at a certain distance from my machine so that the tension doesn't get weirdly messed up or anything Like that. So let's thread our bobbin. Some machines use plastic bobbins. Others use metal So just make sure you know what your machine uses you're going to place it up here on this little thing I'm going to bring you guys up here so you can see it But you're going to take your bobbin and there's usually a little thing to put it on up here So mine locks into place right there Then you're going to take your thread which again you would normally probably have it up here with your stopper Then you're going to take your thread and usually machines have a little guide as you can see up here It tells me to put it through this little thing and then back into the bobbin Most of them have little picture guides that'll tell you different numbers for it So just check what your machine is But usually it's somewhere around here to then bring it over then you'll notice your bobbin has a little hole at the top So you're going to want to take your thread and put it from the inside up into the hole that you see at the top Just like that Then we're going to turn on our machine and usually for the bobbin It has to be moved over to this side for the machine to know that when you press the pedal You're just moving this and not the actual needle down there So lock it into place then you're going to hold it up while you press down on the pedal and it'll start to thread itself Once it has a good amount you can honestly cut off the rest of this and then just let it be Once you've reached a sufficient amount of thread Sometimes your machine will actually stop itself if it's reached the maximum sometimes it doesn't necessarily but once you have a good amount You can push this back over bring this up and cut off the excess We're going to leave this up here for right now And we're going to go ahead and thread this since I already have you guys up at this angle So to thread the actual machine itself again You'll see there's a lot of numbers up here that tell you how to thread it Most machines have that so just be sure to check the guide on yours But most of them kind of thread the same anyway So you're going to take the thread put it through the first little arrow down through here up through here Then make sure it clicks into this little looper and then bring it down Now that you have the thread down here You want to thread it through this little thing up here right there and then into your actual needle Once you thread that through you want to make sure that the thread goes In between this little presser foot and out backwards to insert the bobbin Some machines have this drop-in and some of them have it down here So just make sure what yours is like this one just pops off up here and you can see on here It tells you exactly how to thread it which way it needs to go because there's a specific way that it needs to be turning So make sure you follow that for your own machine. I'm going to follow what this one says So i'm going to drop in the bobbin put it through this first little thing Bring it out Then you're going to want to hold the top thread and move the hand wheel down slowly to pick up the bottom Bobbin thread then you can take some scissors or anything to bring up the thread and now you have it perfectly threaded Make sure to put all of your pieces back before starting to sew So let's talk about some basic stitches on the machine and things that you're probably going to need especially as a beginner So obviously first things first a normal straight stitch This is what you're going to use for mostly every single seam ever It's just a normal straight stitch Usually a machine will be programmed to be at like that specific length But mine usually does it at the 2.2 length and it's just like the perfect length for a normal seam So i'm going to go ahead and show you guys how to do that real quick So i'm going to show you guys the straight seam on these two pieces of muslin that i've just cut out and pressed for you Guys, so you want to make sure your presser foot is up as you can see this would be down This would be up once it's up. You're able to put your fabric in here Seam allowance is usually half an inch or four eighths So line that up with the four eighths line on here Once you have your fabric placed in you want to sew a couple of stitches and then back stitch a couple of stitches To secure the stitch in place and then you can move forward with stitching it fully Once you're getting close to the end you want to do the same thing that we did at the top and back stitch a few stitches And then go forward again And that will lock the seam in place then you want to make sure to bring up the presser foot And pull away leave a substantial amount of thread and then you can cut it off And that leaves you with a perfect straight stitch next let's talk about a basting stitch This is what you're going to need if you're kind of tentatively putting things together and trying to see what it's going to look like But you don't want to fully sew it yet because you're kind of just testing things out Or if you're going to do gathering and stuff, which we'll get into in a different video Then this is also the stitch you would use which is basically just the longest stitch you can do on your machine for me It's a five length stitch So it just makes like the widest stitch ever which makes it really easy to just like pull on one end and it completely Comes off but at the same time you could still like try it on and see what it looks like So it's just one of those things where it's easy for it to just come off So you don't have to like seam rip it necessarily But at the same time you can kind of see what it's going to look like better than with pins So let's do one of those real quick First thing you're going to want to do is change the length to whatever the highest length is on your machine For me, it's five next you're going to bring the fabric in about an eighth of an inch less than what the seam allowance is Going to be so if your seam allowance is four eighths put it on the three eighths line Which is usually level with the presser foot edge This is probably the only seam where you do not need to backstitch because it's meant for you to be able to take it out easily So just sew normally without any sort of backstitching and make sure that you leave enough thread Back here for it you to be able to pull on that later And again, no backstitching at the end You can just bring the presser foot up and pull this out and make sure you cut it with enough thread So this is essentially what you're left with It looks like a normal straight stitch and honestly if you pull on it, it will kind of behave as one anyway But if you pull on one of these threads You'll see that it starts to gather and you can honestly even continue to pull and then it'll come out Which is exactly what you want for a basting stitch because you're just kind of checking what it looks like So then it comes out perfectly without even needing a seam ripper The next one is going to be a zigzag stitch This one is not something that I really ever use you can either use it decoratively You can use it for knits Sometimes people do that instead of doing a straight seam because it also like allows for more stretch and stuff But I personally don't ever really do that You can also use it as a serger in a way and kind of do it on the ends of the fabric So that it doesn't fray and it kind of looks finished I again don't personally do that because I do have sergers But if you do not have a serger, it's a really good way to do that So let's get into that for the zigzag stitch You're going to want to check where your machine has that mine you can see is the number eight So i'm going to move this to number eight So you can actually change the length and width as you can see here This kind of changes the width this changes the length Essentially the width is how far outwards it goes and the length is like how far apart they are So you can honestly change that to whatever you want You can kind of mess around with it until you find something you like I'm, just going to put it out something random see what it looks like and show you guys So you're going to take your fabric line it up wherever you want it to be I'm, just going to line it up on four eighths and then you're going to go ahead and start sewing And you can actually backstitch on this as well It'll just go backwards on it, but don't do too much and then just keep going And at the end make sure to backstitch as well So this is what it looks like with the length and width that I chose You can totally change it and vary it to whatever you want You can make it a super small length so that it becomes again more of like a serging type Or you can make it longer for a decorative type. It kind of just depends on whatever you want So you can just kind of play with it and see what you like Make sure you make a lot of samples before you put it on your final fabric But this is roughly what it would look like next. Let's talk about under stitching This is something that I use very very often whenever you have something that is lined or some like two fabrics put together That are going to be like folded in it's really important to do some sort of under stitching on it So that it lays properly you guys will see what I mean when we do it But basically it just helps for things to fold better and to kind of lay flat. So let's get into it So for the under stitching i'm going to show you it on the straight seam that we did earlier So this is the back side where the seam is You're going to push all of it to one side to decide that would be your quote unquote lining or whatever's on the inside That's where you're going to push it to and then we are going to actually sew on the front side So you can kind of make sure what you're seeing as you can see the seam is on this side So we're going to be sewing on this side of the seam. So you're going to want to place the fabric right almost on the seam line like maybe like a few millimeters next to it and you're going to sew normally a couple stitches backstitch a couple stitches and then sew all the way down kind of using The actual seam line as your guiding point and making sure that you never cross over it and you're right next to it Not on it, but next to it And then of course backstitch at the end So now when I fold this seam it folds perfectly and kind of leaves a straighter line So as you can see the seam leaves a perfectly straight line now and this little seam is on the back You can't see it on the front, but it helps it to fold down better And the last thing I want to talk about is a curved seam So this is obviously whenever you have some sort of curve which happens very often obviously in the human body So it's really important to know how to do different curved seams So i'm not going to talk about it too much because it's mostly just something I need to show you guys So let's just get into it So for the curved seam, I went ahead and just cut a curved piece of fabric out so we can sew along that edge Like every other seam. We're just going to place it on here regularly and you're going to start sewing And backstitch for the curved seam You want to make sure you go slow so that you're still lining up this fabric with whatever seam allowance You're trying to get so going slow is what really helps with this You want to slowly maneuver the fabric, but don't pull on it too much It will kind of go on its own, but you kind of have to work it into it Once you get to the end backstitch as usual So this is what it looks like, but this is not where it ends. So obviously this would be on the inside So if you were to turn it around as a seam, you can see that it doesn't really come out very nicely There's kind of like a lot of bulkiness to it. So it doesn't lay flat So this is how we fix that you're going to want to take your scissors and cut little triangles into it As close to the seam as possible without actually being on the seam because obviously you don't want to cut it But you just want to start kind of making Little triangles to take away some of the excess fabric Once you go all the way around you'll see how this helps Reduce the bulkiness and actually helps the fabric lay a lot more flat and nicer as a curve So now if we flip this around you'll see that it actually lays a lot flatter And obviously you can press it to make it look a lot better But this helps it so so much in making sure that this doesn't have any weird corners or edges If you can see through the little transparency that there is in this fabric You can see where your fullness is kind of taken out and where it's able to lay a lot better Whereas before it would have created a lot of little creases on here because it's bringing A big curve kind of inward rather than outward. So this is what's going to help it lay flat The last thing I want to cover is just some basic tips that will help you guys in your sewing journeys Some things that I just like wrote down that I think are important that maybe you wouldn't think about necessarily But are simple little hacks if you will So first things first on the sewing machine when you are sewing when you're done When you've backstitched you've done all of that and you're pulling the fabric away from the machine You want to make sure the little loopy loop at the top is all the way up for your thread to pull out properly Don't ask me why but if the looper is like down and you try to pull sometimes it'll get really stuck and sometimes it'll break Sometimes it'll like snag and just do bad things So you always want to make sure that that is at the very very top my machine automatically does it for me But most like basic home sewing machines don't so that's something you want to look for if you have a basic machine Just make sure that that's always up It's going to help it come out cleaner and nicer and along with that you want to make sure that when you do Pull out that fabric you leave a decent amount of thread at the end You don't have to leave a lot but enough for it to not unthread itself when you do the next seam You want to leave like maybe that much? I don't know not too much But also not too little because it will unthread itself when you sew your next seam if you do leave too little this should go Unsaid but you should start very slowly at first Don't try to sew too heavily Some machines have different speeds that you can set it at so that even if you do press the pedal all the way down It'll only go to that certain speed mine does do that, but a lot of them don't necessarily So you do want to make sure that you kind of like test it out You go really slowly don't go full force first because you will mess up it will get frustrating. So go slowly There is no rush take your time and do it correctly Another life hack i've seen is that you can put tape on the machine to kind of set Where your seam allowance is and kind of help you keep a straight line Obviously most machines have the measurements written on there But sometimes it can get hard to use those especially if you are a beginner and you're not used to it So it's sometimes easier to just put a little tape a little something decorative there So you can like visually really see where you're supposed to be lining up your fabric And lastly my biggest pro tip is to press all your seams as you go This is going to help things look a lot nicer lay a lot better and look a lot more professional It is something that every fashion school teacher ever has ingrained in my head like no other and they will yell at you for it If you have not pressed the seam right after making it and it does get really frustrating because sometimes you do just want to sew Sew and sew and sometimes I still do but it is really important to Be pressing all of your seams and making sure that everything is always laying flat laying nicely and looks a lot more professional So that is it for today's video. I hope you guys enjoyed it. I hope that this was informative for you guys I have so much more on the way. You guys have no idea. I have the longest list of things So this is probably going to be like a year-long series of just random little videos here and there Hopefully showing you guys all of the basics of sewing the more advanced techniques all of that type of stuff We will get into all of it If you guys have any specific requests of things you want me to cover, please do leave them in the comments I'm always looking for more ideas of things to cover because I can only think of so much myself and I want to make sure I don't miss anything So please let me know what else you want to see and I will definitely get to that And of course, don't forget to subscribe if you have not already because there are so many videos coming I'm, so excited for this series. You guys have no idea So, please subscribe if you're not already subscribed so you don't miss out on the next time I post a video and feel free to follow my social media as well You can follow my shop at natalia trevino maro and you can follow my personal at natalia.trevino I post a lot of fun stuff on both. So feel free to check those out and that will be it for today's video I hope you guys liked it and I will see you guys in the next one. Bye